GRAFTON, N.S. - A Mennonite family in Kings County is picking up the pieces after the blaze destroyed a large warehouse on its apple farm.
A neighbour heard an explosion at about 4 a.m. Wednesday and came over to discover flames going up the wall near the part of the building where electrical lines are connected.
"So it would appear that it had something to do with the power," said farm owner Jim Gillespie. "By the time the firefighters got here, it was a runaway."
"It was going and nothing was going to stop it."
There were no apples in the warehouse, which is generally used for storing produce for a farmer's market.
But Gillespie lost a car in the building, along with a woodworking shop, tools, a load of fertilizer and 150 wooden apple bins.
Gillespie estimated it would cost about $400,000 to replace the building, and lost contents were worth another $100,000.
According to Mennonite practice, the building was not insured, but Mennonites generally help each other out in such losses through church donations.
"We'll clean it up and decide where we're going to go from here," Gillespie said. "We'll pick up the pieces. ... That's all you can do."